1.1.2 Animal and Pet Therapy

Animal-assisted and pet therapy are types of therapy that use animals trained to provide affection and comfort to people in a variety of places including hospitals, retirement or nursing homes, mental health facilities and schools.

1.1.3 Art Therapy

Art therapy is a way of helping people through art, and is provided by accredited art therapists. Painting, drawing and sculpting are common ways that help people to express themselves and heal. Unlike traditional art, the focus is on the process of creating the artwork rather than the final product.

1.1.4.1 Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP)

DDP is a therapy and parenting approach that uses what we know about attachment and trauma to help children and families with their relationships. When a child has experienced stresses such as trauma, this can lead the child to become disconnected from the important people in the child's life, and experience problems such as depression, anxiety and behaviour problems. DDP offers a powerful way to reconnect children to the people that are important, thus improving their relationships as well as problems with depression, anxiety and behaviours.

Unfortunately, there are no results for this heading. Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP)Suggest a resource

1.1.5 Behavioural therapies (including ABA and IBI)

Behavioural therapies uses different strategies to help a person learn life skills and more positive behaviours such as communication and social skills. Examples include therapies used in autism such as Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI).

1.1.6 Brainspotting (BSP)

Brainspotting (BSP) is type of treatment developed to help people with stress, anxiety and trauma.

It may be particularly helpful for clients where standard talking therapies have not been effective (e.g. when trauma has been too distressing to be talked about.)

Most of the usual ‘talking therapies’ (such as cognitive behaviour therapy, solution-focused therapy, etc) require the client to have a functional logical brain (i.e. ‘neocortex’) and emotional brain (i.e. ‘limbic cortex’). However with severe stress, anxiety and trauma, a person’s logical and emotional brain may be so overwhelmed, that standard talk therapies are not effective.

Brainspotting works on the ‘survival’ (i.e. ‘subcortical’) brain. Other types of subcortical processing therapies include eye movement desensitization processing (EMDR).

Brainspotting helps the brain process trauma, at a deep, subcortical level, which using focused mindfulness and specific eye movements, which allows the brain to heal from traumatic experiences.

Unfortunately, there are no results for this heading. Brainspotting (BSP)Suggest a resource

1.1.7 Coaching

Coaching is the process whereby a coach teaches and directs another person via encouragement and advice. The coach provides an individual with feedback, insight and guidance on achieving their full potential in their business or personal life. Coaches usually first help by defining goals, and then supports the client in working out a strategy to reach those goals, and helps the client stay on track.

Compared to counselling, coaching generally has a narrower focus; focuses on performance rather than underlying root causes; tends to be shorter-term; does not seek to improve underlying psychological problems; focuses on improvement on function in already well-functioning individuals.

Coaching is generally more suitable for individuals who are well-functioning to begin with, whereas counselling/therapy would be recommended for individuals who are more distressed.

1.1.8 Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is an effective type of therapy for numerous conditions such as depression and anxiety. CBT helps individuals by looking at negative thoughts and behaviour patterns, and changing those into more helpful coping thoughts and behaviours. CBT can be delivered by any health professional who has had adequate training in CBT, which in practice usually refers to psychologists, psychiatrists as well as some physicians and social workers.

1.1.11 Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)

EFT is a short term (8-20 sessions), structured approach to therapy formulated in the early 80's by Drs. Sue Johnson and Les Greenberg, shown effective for couples and families. EFT helps couples overcome negative patterns in communication by teaching them how to communicate underlying feelings and emotional needs.

1.1.12 eTherapy

eTherapy refers to therapy delivered online, through the internet. It includes websites that provide online therapy as well as communicating with a therapist using email, or online chat sessions.

Because there are so many websites that provide internet delivered therapy, we are not able to list all the websites out there, but rather focus on websites which are publicly funded, freely available and supported by evidence.

1.1.14 Family, Marital, and Couple Therapy

A marriage, couple and family therapist specializes in helping concerns and problems in couple or family relationships. Marriage, couple and family therapy can be given by any professional that has sufficient training, which usually tends to be social workers, psychologists or psychiatrists.

Unlike traditional therapy where the therapist just meets with the individual, family counselling and therapy is where the therapist meets with the individual and one or more family members. The idea is that no matter what the difficulty is, others in the family are part of the solution and thus need to be involved in the therapy or treatment.

1.1.15 Group Therapy

Group therapy is a form of counselling/therapy, in which one or more therapists work with a small group of patients or clients in a group. Therapeutic benefits of group therapy include the interactions amongst group members, and having shared experiences with similar individuals.

1.1.17 Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT)

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is a type of therapy that focuses on a person's relationships and connections with other people. Regardless of how a problem such as depression started, the problem is often maintained by ongoing stresses in a person's relationships. Improving and strengthening a person's relationships can thus be helpful, no matter what the difficulty.

1.1.19 Multisystemic Therapy (MST)

Multisystemic therapy (MST) is an intensive family- and community-based treatment program designed for children/youth who have serious behaviour problems, such as conduct disordered and antisocial behaviours.

Unlike many therapies which focus primarily on the child/youth (such as individual therapy), MST is 'multi-systemic' and focuses on various aspects of the person's life (such as home, school, community, and peer relations) to help the behaviour problems.

1.1.23 Play Therapy

Play therapy uses play to communicate with and help children. Play therapy is useful for children because they naturally express themselves for play, and because they may not be able to express themselves verbally (using their words) as would be required for other types of therapy such as "talk therapies." Play therapy can be delivered by any mental health professional that has received sufficient training in it.

In Canada, it is preferable (though not always possible) to have a professional who has official training approved by the Canadian Association for Child and Play Therapy.

1.1.24 Psychoeducational Assessment

When an individual has learning problems, it can be very helpful to have a psychoeducational assessment performed by a psychologist.

The usual first step is to speak to the child's school regarding the possibility of seeing a psychologist that works with the schoolboard. This is paid for by the schoolboard, however there are often long waitlists.

Sometimes there are community agencies (such as psychology training programs with a university) that can offer free, or low-cost testing.

The quickest way is to pay privately for a psychologist working in private practice. In Canada, a psychoeducational assessment costs approximately in the $1,000-$2,000 range.

In many cases, a parent's workplace may have a health plan that can pay for at least some of this expense.

Private Practice Professionals and Commercial Businesses

1.1.25 Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis

Psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis helps the individual develop insight and understanding into their past, which hopefully may then translate into positive changes in the present. Most psychiatrists (and many psychologists) have psychodynamic training. Psychoanalysis is a more involved treatment, classically involving up to a few visits per week, for many years, and is delivered by trained 'psychoanalysts', who tend to be psychiatrists.

1.1.26 Solution-Focused Therapy (SFT)

Solution-focused therapy (SFT) focuses on empowering individuals to find solutions in their life by figuring out what a person's goals are, and supporting them to find ways to achieve those goals. Various types of professionals may have training in SFT, and may work in counselling agencies, or in private practice.

Technology has made life much more convenient in the developed world. It is hard to imagine having to live life without modern conveniences such as the internet, mobile devices, video games and other technological wonders. Unfortunately, many societies are starting to see the problems from overuse and misuse of technology. So-called 'technology addiction' is creating a whole generation of children, youth and adults who struggle with social skills and empathy, and who relate better to their devices than to fellow human beings.

Fortunately, growing awareness 'technology addiction' will hopefully lead to policy changes and more resources to deal with the issue.

1.2.2 Anger

We all get angry from time to time. If we deal with anger in a healthy way, it helps us realize that something may be wrong and that perhaps something needs to change. But if our anger gets too severe, and we deal with it in an unhealthy way that causes problems at home, work or school, then it may be time to get some help in dealing with it.

1.2.3 Developmental, Intellectual Delay and Disabilities

Developmental delay is where a child has slowed or impaired development. Developmental disability where the developmental delay results in problems with intellectual or adaptive function. Many different conditions can cause developmental delay or disability. The term Intellectual Delay/Disability is often used with the same meaning.

1.2.4 Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD/ADHD)

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and attention-deficit disorder (ADD) are conditions where individuals have extreme problems with inattention and distractibility, to the point that it causes problems with school, home or relationships. Individuals with ADHD also have hyperactivity (troubles sitting still, fidgeting) and impulsivity (acting without thinking first).

1.2.5 Anxiety

Anxiety is an unpleasant feeling of worry, unease or apprehension. The physical symptoms that accompany these feelings include heart palpitations, trembling, dry mouth, dizziness, nausea and diarrhea. Anxiety may be associated with specific situations, events or objects. In some cases, medical problems can lead to symptoms of anxiety.

1.2.5.1 Selective Mutism

Selective mutism is a severe childhood anxiety disorder where a child is ‘mute' (unable to speak) in certain situations such as school. It is ‘selective', because the mutism usually doesn't occur in all situations. In situations where the child feels relaxed, like at home or with close friends and family, the child may be able to speak normally.